Automobile bumper



April 20 1926.

A. M. MULLER AUTOMOBILE BUMPER I Filed June a, 1925 INVEN TOR.

' ALEXANDER MICHAELMULLER Patented Apr. 20, 1926 PATENT "OFFICE.

ALEXANDER MICHAEL MULLER, ore-OAKLAND, cA I roR rA.

I'AUTOMOBILE'IBUMPER.

Application filed. .Tu'ne8,'1925. Serial No. 35,524. I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER MICHAEL MULLER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, re-

' sidin at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and r jtate of California,haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automobile Bumpers,of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an automobile bumper of the single band type reversed onitself to form a loop from one side of the car to the other. An objectofmy invention is to provide a bumper made from a single, band bent withreverse turns on itself, whereby the central part of the band extendsoutwardly from the car, each end is crossed over the other and connectedto the front central part and the rear loops are secured to the frame ofthe vehicle.

Another object of my invention is to mount a ballbearing at the slidingparts of the bumpers where the spring band would I otherwise contact. Asa detail of this I construct a yoke with ball races therein, adapted toengage a set of balls which bear against a spring member. I attach theantifriction yoke to the ends of the band and to the central front partof the bumper to provide for the sliding movement between the ends andthe central front section of the band.

My invention will be more readily understood from the followingdescription and drawings in which Figure 1 is a front view of the bumperin the direction of the arrow 1 of Figure 2.

Figure 2 is a plan View of Figure 1 in the direction of the arrow 2,showing the attachment to a vehicle.

Figure 3 is a rear elevation in the direction of the arrow 3 of Figure2.

Figure 4 is a transverse section of one of the ball-bearing yokes as iftaken from the line %-4 of Figures 1 to 3.

Figure 5 is a horizontal section of the yoke and bumper band taken onthe line 5-5 of Figure 7 is a front elevation of Figure 6.

in the direction of the arrow 7.

Flgure 8 1s a section through the bumper have any relative movement.

holder on the line 8--8- of Figure 2 in the direction of the arrow.

My bumper as a whole is designated by the numeral 1, and is constructedwith a single band of spring metal, having a .front section 2 extendingstraight across the vehicle from one side tothe other. Similar reversedbends 3 are formed in the metal strip so that the clamped sections 4 aresubstantially parallel to the front 2. The central portion of the backof the bumper has the bands crossed, as indicated at 5 by which theedges of the band contact. The front ends 6 of the band bear against thefront section 2.

The cross-over 5 of the band is held by a screwthreaded staple 7 havinga crossbar 8 and a clamping nut 9 on each leg of the staple. Itisintended by this means to secure the cross-over sections so they willnot Any other suitable clamp will probably be suflicient. The bumper isattached to the chassis by any suitable holder 10 having clamps 11 toengage the clamped sections 4 of which the holder shown has channelshaped straps 12 with an inturned end 13 engaging the channel 14: of thechassis.

The ball bearing yokes connecting the ends 6 of the bumper to the frontsection 2, are constructed as follows: In Figures 4: and 5 the yoke 15,having downwardly extending legs 16 and 17 witha clamp-bolt 18therebetween, is rigidly secured to the ends 6 of the band by means of abolt 19. These ends 6 have short ball races 20 and the leg 16 of theyoke has ball races 21. The balls 22 inserted in these races bearagainst the central section 2 of the bumper and allow free slidingmovement.

In the alternative yoke, as shown in F igures 6 and 7, the yoke 25 isconstructed with double reverse bends 26 and 27 forming an anti-frictionbearing 28 between the arm 29 and the mid-section 30, constructed byball races 31 in which the anti-friction balls 32 press against thecentral front section 2 of the bumper. The clamping section of the yokecomprises the mid-section 30 and the arm 33, between which the end 6 ofthe bumper is secured by the bolt 34, which extends through the arm 33and is screwthreaded into the mid-section 30. This con-- struction maybesimplified by omitting the reverse bend 27 and the arm 33 by bolting theend 6 of the bumper directly onto the section 30.

These anti-friction yokes function as follows: As above described, itWill be noted that they are rigidly clamped to the crossover ends 6 ofthe bumper and slide on the central front section. Therefore When thebumper is pressed together these yokes have an easy sliding motion onthe front section. It will be manifest that the construction of thebumper itself and of the antigriction yokes may be considerably modi-Having described my invention What I claim is 1. A bumper comprising incombination a single band of metal bent at each side in reverse bends toform a front section and rear clamping sections the ends of the bandbeing crossed over each other and brought into contact with the frontsection.

2. A bumper as claimed in claim 1, having means to hold the ends intocontact with the front section of the band.

3. A bumper as claimed in claim 1, having an anti-friction yoke engagingthe ends of the band and the front section thereof.

4. A bumper as claimed in claim 1, having a yoke secured to the ends ofthe band and having an anti-friction ball bearing engaging the frontsection of the band.

5. A bumper as claimed in claim 1, having the yoke formed With reversebends, tWo sections of such yoke being clamped to the end of the bandand the other section of the yoke forming an anti-friction ball bearingengaging the front section of the band.

6. A bumper as claimed in claim 1, having a clamp securing the crossedover ends of the band to prevent movement thereof.

7. A bumper as claimed in claim I, having clamps securing said clampingsections of the band to the frame of a vehicle, having a threaded staplesecuring the cross over parts of the ends of the band and anti-frictionyokes engaging the ends of the band and the front section thereof.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ALEXANDER MICHAEL MULLER.

